Topic - Diligence Teacher - Rev Chris Oyakhilome PhD Part 2 Introduction At the end of this class each member should: - Be acquainted with some scriptures on diligence - Understand how to guard his /her heart with all diligence - Understand what he /she must do to make his / her calling and election sure Study scriptures on diligence We’ll take time out to look into some scriptures that will throw more light on the subject of diligence: Proverbs 4 v 23: Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it [are] the issues of life. Proverbs 4 v 23 (Amp): Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard for out of it flow the springs of life. The phrase ‘with all vigilance and above all that you guard’ means that we have to employ all diligence; all the diligence we can muster. What does ‘.... for out of it flow the springs of life’ in Proverbs 4 v 23 mean? God is telling us here that all the things He has planned for us, everything connected with our lives, is deposited in our spirits; our hearts. For example, think about an orange seed, it carries all the potentials of the orange tree. Although it looks really small, it has all the potential of the tree, and once it is put in the right environment, it will produce the roots, stem, branches, leaves and finally many fruits with many seeds in them. All of these potentials are programmed into that little white orange seed. That’s amazing; now God tells us to diligently guard our hearts, because there are things that could come into our hearts and change or destroy the programming and there are things that can come into our hearts and enable the programming of God to be carried out to fruition. God’s purpose for your life is programmed into your heart; everything you could ever be, every where you could ever go, everything you would ever do to please God in your life is programmed into your heart (your spirit). God then gives us the responsibility to mount guard over our hearts and He told us to do it with all diligence; with everything we can do about it. We shouldn’t allow wrong things come into our hearts. God told us to guard our hearts because problems can come through thoughts and the mind is the door way to the spirit, therefore, you have to mount guard at the door, which is your mind, over any information that is going to get into your spirit. It matters how you think, what thoughts come to you, what things you see and what you read or watch because all these are things that can bring information to your mind. How should you mount guard over your heart? You mount guard over your heart by not allowing yourself to dwell on anything that is inconsistent with the Word of God; by not allowing your heart to accept thoughts and imaginations that are inconsistent with the nature, will and purpose of God. The nature, will and purpose of God are revealed in His Word. We must therefore know the Word of God. Hosea 4 v 6: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.....’ In this verse, God is not talking about the knowledge of science and chemistry but about the knowledge of His Word because this reveals the knowledge of God’s nature, will, and purpose to us. This means that God’s people can fail if they are ignorant. Mark 7 v 13: Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition...’ People living according to the traditions of men can make the Word of God of none effect. They short circuit the Word of God in their lives, making it unproductive. God’s Word always has power but it loses its effectiveness in the life of the one who uses human traditions, information or knowledge to evaluate it. When we know the Word, it becomes our control system for checking whatever information we get and for stopping those things that are inconsistent with God’s will, nature, and purpose. How to be productive 2 Peter 1 v 10: ‘Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things you shall never fall’. 2 Peter 1 v 8: ‘For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ’ In 2 Peter 1 v 8 we learn how to always be productive and have results. Also from this scripture, we can see that our efforts are ruled out; we don’t have to try to make ourselves fruitful: ‘if these things be in you, and abound, they make you...’ If these things be in you, and abound, they make you not to be barren and they make you not to be unfruitful. All you need is to have all the things the Word talked about in you. 2 Peter 1 v 10: ‘Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things you shall never fall’. In the scripture above we are required to make some effort: “...if you do these things you shall never fall’. How do we give diligence to make our calling and election sure? We give diligence to make our calling and election sure by mounting guard over our hearts. God has called, elected and chosen us for a purpose and for that purpose to be established and fulfilled in our lives, we must mount guard over our hearts with all diligence; not allowing just anything to come in or allowing ourselves to think just any thought. We must learn to say no to contrary thoughts and control our minds with the Word. For example, there are people who get angry about something and allow themselves to continue being angry about the same subject for a long time, yet the bible says ‘don’t let the sun go down upon your anger’ (Ephesians 4 v 26). This means you should deal with the anger within the same day. Don’t come back the next day still angry about the same thing. But when they don’t do that, anger takes a hold of their spirits and the demon of anger comes into their hearts and gets accommodated. They then wonder why their lives have become a mess. Refuse to give expression to satan’s manipulations and to his character; don’t let him find vent through you. God wants us to exercise carefulness, persistence and determination in achieving a goal. He tells us to be diligent to make our calling and election sure. You might be praying to God to make you fulfill His purpose but God says He wants you to be diligent to fulfil it; there are things you must do and He has told us what they are.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 05:01:45 +0000
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